2,918 research outputs found
The elevated Curie temperature and half-metallicity in the ferromagnetic semiconductor LaEuO
Here we study the effect of La doping in EuO thin films using SQUID
magnetometry, muon spin rotation (SR), polarized neutron reflectivity
(PNR), and density functional theory (DFT). The SR data shows that the
LaEuO is homogeneously magnetically ordered up to its
elevated . It is concluded that bound magnetic polaron behavior does
not explain the increase in and an RKKY-like interaction is
consistent with the SR data. The estimation of the magnetic moment by DFT
simulations concurs with the results obtained by PNR, showing a reduction of
the magnetic moment per LaEuO for increasing lanthanum doping.
This reduction of the magnetic moment is explained by the reduction of the
number of Eu-4 electrons present in all the magnetic interactions in EuO
films. Finally, we show that an upwards shift of the Fermi energy with La or Gd
doping gives rise to half-metallicity for doping levels as high as 3.2 %.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
A New Automatic Method to Identify Galaxy Mergers I. Description and Application to the STAGES Survey
We present an automatic method to identify galaxy mergers using the
morphological information contained in the residual images of galaxies after
the subtraction of a Sersic model. The removal of the bulk signal from the host
galaxy light is done with the aim of detecting the fainter minor mergers. The
specific morphological parameters that are used in the merger diagnostic
suggested here are the Residual Flux Fraction and the asymmetry of the
residuals. The new diagnostic has been calibrated and optimized so that the
resulting merger sample is very complete. However, the contamination by
non-mergers is also high. If the same optimization method is adopted for
combinations of other structural parameters such as the CAS system, the merger
indicator we introduce yields merger samples of equal or higher statistical
quality than the samples obtained through the use of other structural
parameters. We explore the ability of the method presented here to select minor
mergers by identifying a sample of visually classified mergers that would not
have been picked up by the use of the CAS system, when using its usual limits.
Given the low prevalence of mergers among the general population of galaxies
and the optimization used here, we find that the merger diagnostic introduced
in this work is best used as a negative merger test, i.e., it is very effective
at selecting non-merging galaxies. As with all the currently available
automatic methods, the sample of merger candidates selected is contaminated by
non-mergers, and further steps are needed to produce a clean sample. This
merger diagnostic has been developed using the HST/ACS F606W images of the
A901/02 cluster (z=0.165) obtained by the STAGES team. In particular, we have
focused on a mass and magnitude limited sample (log M/M_{O}>9.0,
R_{Vega}<23.5mag)) which includes 905 cluster galaxies and 655 field galaxies
of all morphological types.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables. To appear in MNRA
Triplet Dispersion in CuGeO_3: Perturbative Analysis
We reconsider the 2d model for CuGeO_3 introduced previously (Phys. Rev.
Lett. 79, 163 (1997)). Using a computer aided perturbation method based on flow
equations we expand the 1-triplet dispersion up to 10th order. The expansion is
provided as a polynom in the model parameters. The latter are fixed by fitting
the theoretical result to experimental data obtained by INS. For a dimerization
delta = 0.08(1) we find an excellent agreement with experiment. This value is
at least 2 to 3 times higher than values deduced previously from 1d chain
approaches. For the intrachain frustration alpha_0 we find a smaller value of
0.25(3). The existence of interchain frustration conjectured previously is
confirmed by the analysis of temperature dependent susceptibility.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Physics at a Fermilab Proton Driver
This report documents the physics case for building a 2 MW, 8 GeV
superconducting linac proton driver at Fermilab.Comment: 52 pages, 15 figure
Two-loop self-dual Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangians (II): Imaginary part and Borel analysis
We analyze the structure of the imaginary part of the two-loop
Euler-Heisenberg QED effective Lagrangian for a constant self-dual background.
The novel feature of the two-loop result, compared to one-loop, is that the
prefactor of each exponential (instanton) term in the imaginary part has itself
an asymptotic expansion. We also perform a high-precision test of Borel
summation techniques applied to the weak-field expansion, and find that the
Borel dispersion relations reproduce the full prefactor of the leading
imaginary contribution.Comment: 28 pp, 6 eps figure
Transit timing variation and activity in the WASP-10 planetary system
Transit timing analysis may be an effective method of discovering additional
bodies in extrasolar systems which harbour transiting exoplanets. The
deviations from the Keplerian motion, caused by mutual gravitational
interactions between planets, are expected to generate transit timing
variations of transiting exoplanets. In 2009 we collected 9 light curves of 8
transits of the exoplanet WASP-10b. Combining these data with published ones,
we found that transit timing cannot be explained by a constant period but by a
periodic variation. Simplified three-body models which reproduce the observed
variations of timing residuals were identified by numerical simulations. We
found that the configuration with an additional planet of mass of 0.1
and orbital period of 5.23 d, located close to the outer 5:3
mean motion resonance, is the most likely scenario. If the second planet is a
transiter, the estimated flux drop will be 0.3 per cent and can be
observable with a ground-based telescope. Moreover, we present evidence that
the spots on the stellar surface and rotation of the star affect the radial
velocity curve giving rise to spurious eccentricity of the orbit of the first
planet. We argue that the orbit of WASP-10b is essentially circular. Using the
gyrochronology method, the host star was found to be Myr old. This
young age can explain the large radius reported for WASP-10b.Comment: MNRAS accepte
HDAC9 is implicated in atherosclerotic aortic calcification and affects vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype.
Aortic calcification is an important independent predictor of future cardiovascular events. We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis to determine SNPs associated with the extent of abdominal aortic calcification (n = 9,417) or descending thoracic aortic calcification (n = 8,422). Two genetic loci, HDAC9 and RAP1GAP, were associated with abdominal aortic calcification at a genome-wide level (P < 5.0 × 10-8). No SNPs were associated with thoracic aortic calcification at the genome-wide threshold. Increased expression of HDAC9 in human aortic smooth muscle cells promoted calcification and reduced contractility, while inhibition of HDAC9 in human aortic smooth muscle cells inhibited calcification and enhanced cell contractility. In matrix Gla protein-deficient mice, a model of human vascular calcification, mice lacking HDAC9 had a 40% reduction in aortic calcification and improved survival. This translational genomic study identifies the first genetic risk locus associated with calcification of the abdominal aorta and describes a previously unknown role for HDAC9 in the development of vascular calcification
Polarization state of the optical near-field
The polarization state of the optical electromagnetic field lying several
nanometers above complex dielectric structures reveals the intricate
light-matter interaction that occurs in this near-field zone. This information
can only be extracted from an analysis of the polarization state of the
detected light in the near-field. These polarization states can be calculated
by different numerical methods well-suited to near--field optics. In this
paper, we apply two different techniques (Localized Green Function Method and
Differential Theory of Gratings) to separate each polarisation component
associated with both electric and magnetic optical near-fields produced by
nanometer sized objects. The analysis is carried out in two stages: in the
first stage, we use a simple dipolar model to achieve insight into the physical
origin of the near-field polarization state. In the second stage, we calculate
accurate numerical field maps, simulating experimental near-field light
detection, to supplement the data produced by analytical models. We conclude
this study by demonstrating the role played by the near-field polarization in
the formation of the local density of states.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Cooperative coupling of ultracold atoms and surface plasmons
Cooperative coupling between optical emitters and light fields is one of the
outstanding goals in quantum technology. It is both fundamentally interesting
for the extraordinary radiation properties of the participating emitters and
has many potential applications in photonics. While this goal has been achieved
using high-finesse optical cavities, cavity-free approaches that are broadband
and easy to build have attracted much attention recently. Here we demonstrate
cooperative coupling of ultracold atoms with surface plasmons propagating on a
plane gold surface. While the atoms are moving towards the surface they are
excited by an external laser pulse. Excited surface plasmons are detected via
leakage radiation into the substrate of the gold layer. A maximum Purcell
factor of is reached at an optimum distance of
from the surface. The coupling leads to the observation of
a Fano-like resonance in the spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
History of Galaxy Interactions and their Impact on Star Formation over the Last 7 Gyr from GEMS
We perform a comprehensive estimate of the frequency of galaxy mergers and
their impact on star formation over z~0.24--0.80 (lookback time T_b~3--7 Gyr)
using 3698 (M*>=1e9 Msun) galaxies with GEMS HST, COMBO-17, and Spitzer data.
Our results are: (1) Among 790 high mass (M*>=2.5e10 Msun) galaxies, the
visually-based merger fraction over z~0.24--0.80, ranges from 9%+-5% to 8%+-2%.
Lower limits on the major and minor merger fractions over this interval range
from 1.1% to 3.5%, and 3.6% to 7.5%, respectively. This is the first
approximate empirical estimate of the frequency of minor mergers at z<1. For a
visibility timescale of ~0.5 Gyr, it follows that over T_b~3--7 Gyr, ~68% of
high mass systems have undergone a merger of mass ratio >1/10, with ~16%, 45%,
and 7% of these corresponding respectively to major, minor, and ambiguous
`major or minor' mergers. The mean merger rate is a few x 1e-4 Gyr-1 Mpc-3. (2)
We compare the empirical merger fraction and rate for high mass galaxies to a
suite of Lambda CDM-based models: halo occupation distribution models,
semi-analytic models, and hydrodynamic SPH simulations. We find qualitative
agreement between observations and models such that the (major+minor) merger
fraction or rate from different models bracket the observations, and show a
factor of five dispersion. Near-future improvements can now start to rule out
certain merger scenarios. (3) Among ~3698 M*>=1e9 Msun galaxies, we find that
the mean SFR of visibly merging systems is only modestly enhanced compared to
non-interacting galaxies over z~0.24--0.80. Visibly merging systems only
account for less than 30% of the cosmic SFR density over T_b~3--7 Gyr. This
suggests that the behavior of the cosmic SFR density over the last 7 Gyr is
predominantly shaped by non-interacting galaxies.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 17 pages of
text, 21 figures, 3 tables. Uses emulateapj5.st
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